New member/investor in Massachusetts (New Bedford)

[Michael Cutting]

Hi BP!

Been devouring the podcast over most of the past year as I've tried to absorb as much as possible about real estate investing, and figure its time I stop lurking and start being active on the forums! I reside in Watertown, MA, but spend a lot of time down in the New Bedford/South Dartmouth, MA areas (where the fiance grew up) and that's where I intend to keep my primary focus as I try to get that first deal under my belt and become a real investor.

I've always been intensely interested in personal finance and have come to realize in the past couple years that what I really desire is financial independence. Found my way to BP late last year as I researched location agnostic/passive income, and set about educating myself through the BP podcast and blog as well as all the real estate investing books I could get my hands on.

Goals on BP: I'm hoping to further my real estate investing education by (finally!) becoming engaged on the forums, and I hope to do some networking with more experienced folks in MA and specifically the Boston/Metro-West/South Coast areas. Also hoping this leads to connections to real estate professionals that I can work with such as property managers, agents, attorneys and tax advisors, and GCs/rehab professionals.

Long term REI goals: I hope to acquire a large enough buy & hold portfolio to replace my current W-2 income, freeing myself and my future family of geographical constraints so we can live and travel around the world as we please. I really enjoy being outdoors and on the water, and hope to live in Hawaii someday, so my investing will be with that end goal in mind! I'm also interested in the idea of community improvement/revitalization through real-estate investing, and hope to generate some value in this manner for places like downtown New Bedford.

What I can offer BP: from the networking/investing perspective, I could bring access to capital/funding to a partnership. Otherwise, until I''ve got more experience, I bring a friendly smile!

Thanks, BP! Excited to be here!

- Mike

[Michael Cutting]

Wow - quite the welcome party!

@Shaun Reilly Really appreciate you reaching out, Shaun - I very clearly remember listening to the podcast when you were a guest and being distinctly impressed by your success, especially since I've lived and worked in this area for many years now! Thanks to you,  @Justin Silverio and @Paul Timmins for the REIA recommendations - that's exactly why I decided to start being active, and one of the first messages I got was from @William Vaquerano regarding Justin's event in Chelmsford tonight (and I'm going to try to get out of work early enough to make it!). Also had heard about the Black Diamond Real Estate Investors meetup from listening to the podcast so was planning on making it to the Waltham and/or Worcester meetings later this month, so great to hear so many recommendations about that.